Truffles

Truffle time!  Truffles have been a huge hit this holiday season.  These truffles are not in fact true truffles.  They are not a fungus and they're not the complicated chocolate candy either.  These are cheater-cookie-filled-chocolate-coated-truffles.  And they are delicious.  And super easy.  And impressive looking. 

These photos were taken when Jordan-Ann and I made truffles for the Aaron Scorch/Molly Parden birthday party/house show.  Flavors included white chocolate lemon, chocolate peanut butter, white chocolate Oreo, and chocolate Oreo.

Lemon and Oreo cookie balls

Instructions:

Place 1 package of Oreos (or equivalent amount of any type of crunchy-ish cookies) and 1 package of cream cheese in a food processor (a food processor really works best for this.  I tried it with a blender and I tried it with my hands and neither worked very well). 

Blend thoroughly until you have creamy cookie goodness.  Form into bite size balls.  Dip balls in melted chocolate (we microwaved it but a double boiler would work nicely too). 

White chocolate Oreo truffles

Dipping process; peanut butter and Oreo cookie balls

The orange coating was a white chocolate/candy corn kisses combo

At this point Jo and I sprinkled cookie crumbs on the sticky chocolate to differentiate between fillings and it also looked cool.  When I made these in NY I drizzled chocolate on the cooled truffles (just because I like to seem fancy).  Cool on wax paper or foil covered cookie sheets (in the fridge or freezer).

My NY truffles: Dark chocolate almond Sandies (cookies) and peppermint Oreos with white chocolate coating

Banana Oat Cookies

November and December were cookie months in my household.  With the thought of Christmas coming and a lot of time on my hands, I decided it'd be a good idea to try out as many cookie recipes as I could handle.  So I went to the library and got Betty Crocker's cookie cookbook.  There were dozens of wonderful sounding recipes but my budget, schedule, and stomach couldn't accommodate all the ones I wanted to try.  There's always an abundance of frozen rotten bananas in our freezer so I decided to make cookies using them rather than the standard banana bread way of getting rid of them.

I forgot to take pictures of the entire process but hey, they're cookies; nothing very epic. 

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)

¾ cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

2 ½ cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1 cup AP flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground allspice         

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease cookie sheet. Beat sugar, bananas, butter, and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed or with a spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Drop by rounded tbsp about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet (or make balls). Bake 10 minutes. Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost with vanilla frosting.

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 ½ tsp vanilla

2 to 5 tbsp milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable. 

Frosting note: You could probably get away with only making half a batch depending on how badly you want diabetes.  I also used a can/jar of store bought frosting the second time I made these and it worked well also.  I wouldn't recommend store buying when you can make your own but it saves some time.

These are (I think I can safely add 'easily' here) my favorite cookies ever.  I love a good oatmeal cookie and these are just that.  Throw in a little banana for a slightly more complex flavor and also a potassium punch and top with extra sugar; you can't go wrong with these little gems!  These cookies were such a hit with everyone who tried them.  The second time I made them I added some chocolate chips to half of the batch.  I'm not a chocolate fan so I don't know how they were but my friends liked them a lot.

Dinner with Ryan Knowles

This entry of Food Feats features the company and expertise of Mr. Ryan Knowles.  Ryan is married to my cousin Leah and while not a professional chef, has much experience in the field and a passion for the culinary arts.  The following meal was created mostly by him with some input from me during his recent trip to Atlanta.   

The menu: Pan-seared quail with a Mediterranean spice rub, puree of Jerusalem artichoke and apio root with pancetta, sautéed broccolette with pancetta, and roasted red peppers. 

No recipes were used so I’ll do my best to remember what we did and how we did it.  There won’t be amounts for anything but you’ll get the idea.  

Phase 1: We began our adventure at the Dekalb Farmer’s/World Market.  It’s a great place for anyone who likes to cook because of the amazing variety but I also like it because it’s so affordable.  We browsed, found interesting things, and planned our menu around the odd things we found.  After creating our menu and making our purchases we headed home to begin the feast. 

Phase 2: We roasted our red pepper and set it aside.

Phase 3: We boiled our roots, pureed them in the food processor, and added cream and crispy pancetta.

Phase 4: We sautéed the broccolette with more crispy pancetta in the pancetta grease.

 I flapped its tiny featherless wings.

Phase 5: In the meantime I rubbed the quail with a special top-secret spice blend.  It’s special and top-secret because I don’t remember what was in it.  Delicious though.

Searing quails and bending the frying pan.

 Phase 6: The quails were pan seared and finished in a nice hot oven.

Phase 7: Then we plated our masterpiece, took pictures for this purpose, and enjoyed.  

It was one of the greatest meals I’ve ever had.  I truly loved the puree of Jerusalem artichoke and apio root with pancetta and sautéed broccolette.  The quail was tender and well flavored.  The roasted red pepper added a completely different dimension to the meal and a splash of red to the plate. Success! Although I still smelled like pancetta a week later.